The Noughtie List highlights, pt 4 JENNI LEDER · DEC 30 2009

Hey guys, It's Jenni. The Noughtie List is getting quite long, up to 255 at last count. The year is ending in a matter of days, but there is still time to email me anything you have come across. You can find my past highlights here: part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Technology changed alot of things this decade, the "mega-novel" in particular. Time we would have spent reading is now replaced with blogs, tweets, forums and other internet time wasters. This decade is When Lit Blew Into Bits. BTW Jason, this article is heavy in David Foster Wallace prophecy.

What new species of books, then, have proved themselves fit to survive in the attentional ecosystem of the aughts? What kind of novel, if any, can appeal to readers who read with 34 nested browser tabs open simultaneously on their frontal lobes? And, for that matter, what kind of novel gets written by novelists who spend increasing chunks of their own time reading words off screens?

Many books mentioned in this article are on The Millions list of Best Fiction, which goes in depth on why each book was chosen plus excerpts.

Most of you probably don't want to even think about a Decade Of Food after gorging yourself with yummys the past few days. This mini timeline covers food scares, the rise of organic, blogging chefs and people's obsession with cute food. (Thanks, Peter!)